Suicide Attempts in Latinx: Findings from a Household Survey among a Predominintaly Mexican-American Sample Living in El Paso, TX

Abstract

Suicidality in the U.S. has increased dramatically in recent years (Stone et al., 2018). In 2016, 1.3 million U.S. adults attempted suicide (NIMH, 2018). The demographic breakdown showed that Latinx adults had a suicide attempt rate of 6%. In addition, among Latinx adolescents rates were highest among Latinx students (11.3%) compared to white students (6.8%) (CDC, 2016). Latinx are the largest minority in the United States and make up 17% of the U.S. population (United States Census Bureau, 2016). El Paso presents a unique demographic since over 80% of the city’s population is Latinx (Pew 2016). To date, there has been limited research examining suicide attempt rates in a sample of predominantly Mexican-American individuals. The present study investigated the prevalence of suicide attempts, the predictors of suicide attempts, and predictors of mental health from a predominantly Mexican-American region. The current study is a secondary analysis from a large-scale health study collected between 2009-2010 in El Paso, Texas. A sample of 1000 participants were recruited for this study. Findings revealed that 2.1% of the sample made a suicide attempt. Individuals who made a suicide attempt had higher scores on depressive symptomatology, dysfunction and increased English language use, while also having lower scores on family cohesion and were younger in age. When entered into a logistic regression model, statistical predictors of a suicide attempt included increased dysfunction and reduced ethnic pride. In addition, predictors of depressive symptomatology included reduced family cohesion, reduced ethnic pride and female sex while predictors of dysfunction included English language use, family cohesion, reduced ethnic pride and female sex. A discussion of the results and implications are discussed.^

Subject Area

Psychology|Clinical psychology|Hispanic American studies

Recommended Citation

Perez, Giovanna Monique, "Suicide Attempts in Latinx: Findings from a Household Survey among a Predominintaly Mexican-American Sample Living in El Paso, TX" (2018). ETD Collection for University of Texas, El Paso. AAI10931911.
https://digitalcommons.utep.edu/dissertations/AAI10931911